Also, I use to love Jax quite a bit, but the Champ may as well be hitting people with a whiffle bat now. I hear there are changes for him in the works. Do you see Jax as becoming viable again? He doesn't deal enough damage for how easily downable he is, and his E skills is entirely dependent on dodging... And now, most 'On hit' powers ala Devestating blow/Mystic Shot/Siphoning strike are undodgeable, so one of his skills is pretty useless. Can we see him becoming a viable melee carry or at least a melee champion again?

Jax is definitely getting some loving right now (including making his on hit undodgeable (good catch)). I want to get Jax some serious loving as he used to be one of our most fun champions to play...I hate seeing old greats go to the wayside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onlyashadow

Hi Ezreal, I've never seen you before.

My interest lies in the older unreleased champions, without naming anyone specific, or a specific timeframe, are any of them planned to be released?

Also it seems like you guys fix balance problems with nerfs, any plans to release/rework champions to counter other particular champions or playstyles?

Haha, I get that alot. I'm too busy most of the time to post on the forums which sucks. Hell, I used to be the live designer on the team and even then I could barely post =-P.

I believe Coronarch has something in store for WCG about a certain older unreleased champion, but that could all be hearsay.

Personally I would rather release a new champion to counter other champions rather than shoehorn an existing champion to fit that role. Take for example Kog'Maw, he counters the current fighter tank meta pretty hard, and I can't see making any other champion take that role...

Do you generally design characters around a unique ultimate idea or is the process more holistic?

To tell the truth I used to be super against giving our champions DotA spells (back when we were on our first 10-20 champs). But over time I've become less adverse to using really great ideas from other games. But as for straight ports, that I can't see ever doing. Though I would love to get Lightning Panda from Dota into our game, he freaken kicked ass!

As for champion design, I've had champions designed around all different sorts of abilities. Kassadin came from his ultimate, while Malzahar came from a mix of the void pet mechanic mixed with a hopping dot and a new type of skill shot.

Any hope we will ever get something along the lines of a "Premade Mastery sets"?

Let me elaborate, Maybe a list of pre-made masteries saved so that in champion select we can just hit a pre-made button instead of having to re do all 30 points from scratch. (For those moments when we are pressed for time in champion select).

Is there any elaboration you can do on the subject of Teemo buffing? I know you can't do specifics, but in general, what are you attempting to fix / what perceived problems are you trying to alleviate?

Jax is definitely getting some loving right now (including making his on hit undodgeable (good catch)). I want to get Jax some serious loving as he used to be one of our most fun champions to play...I hate seeing old greats go to the wayside.
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Excellent. I think Jax can be a veyr fun melee champ. But what would his 'on hit' effect be? I assume its his ultimates 3rd strike? Can you tell us if he's getting any new abilities, or is he keeping Q/W/E as they are? And his passive? Can you tell us if that will be changing, even if its just a minor number tweaking?

And you never answered the question about champ order D: I was just pretty excited to see some more female champs, and I am stoked about Irelia, and want to see her (And other female champs) soon.

Who in the Riot staff including yourself has the most say in terms of what gets into the game and does not?

Can you over ride other people or vice versa?

That really depends on what phase of the project the champion is in. Early on champions are more likely to get vetoed by our lead creative designer or the art team, while later on it would be more likely to be nixxed by our lead champion designer. Though to be honest, I don't think we've ever killed a champion who was very far along. Though both Heimerdinger and Ezreal came very close to needing a complete model rework (Heimerdinger was thought to be too silly looking, and Ezreal was thought to be too anime. Though to be honest we did change his model a good amount...which means he did used to be more anime).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirche

What type of weapon will the "Sniper" champion be using?

My money is on a sniper rifle. Though the art team has come up with a very interesting and cool way of doing it which will fit LoL's style more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grafx

what happens when game designers conflict over an idea or decision on a champion? how it solved?

75% of the time it is solved through discussion, 20% of the time one designer just needs to suck it up, 5% of the time a designer is overruled by a superior (though this rarely happens, and is almost always in the best interest of the champion.

But what are your thoughts on some day creating a champ that fills multiple roles throughout the game as s/he levels? Kind of like Nidalee, but less dynamic and more time-boxed. On that note, do you guys have any plans to make any other dual-type champions similar to Nidalee?

Well, I think it's a pretty neat idea, but I think it is too large of a learning curve for newer players. Also, champions like this either tend to do excellently in the game, or get utterly rolled. So we try to avoid doing them unless we find some really interesting way to keep their roles in line.

Swain used to be a dual-type champion, however, we just weren't able to make him feel quite right (he used to swap between support and ap dps roles). I believe we will make more champions like this in the future, but probably not for some time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaiety

Do you ever get the feeling that you're revealing too much?

YES...I often have to delete what I've said to make sure I don't say too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poochy725

what happened to scholar kog'maw, is he still in the works or can u not say?

Scholar Kog'Maw is my baby, I will make sure he gets in some day. Though keep in mind that is a Legendary skin and Kog'Maw is a relatively new champion.